The Matrix Redefined
by Alcides
Summary: After the events of The Matrix, Neo develops and discovers the powers of The One. The storyline focuses on the path of Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, and Tank, and introduces Zion to Neo. The storyline of Redefined will end before Reloaded begins.


"Can you feel it, Mr. Anderson?" Agent Smith advances upon a figure lying on the floor in a heap of wooden shards, helpless. "Closing in on you?" he taunts. "Oh, I can." Neo looks up menacingly at the heartless figure.  
  
"Wake up, Neo." The voice was a familiar one. Neo opens his eyes. "You were tossing like a maniac; I swear if you could fly you'd have flown away," Trinity leans over him, "Are you all right?"  
  
"Yeah..." he replies reluctantly. "They're just dreams."  
  
The walls shudder as the Nebuchadnezzar flies through the abandoned sewers and tunnels of the once-great cities of the world. Avoiding the hot-spots of sentinels, the machine killers, has become harder and harder to accomplish due to the increase of sentinel activity. Nobody, not even Commander Locke has found a legitimate reason for the increase. All that Locke cares about for now, it seems, is the loss of two ships; the Phoenix and the Cadrom. Their loss has gone unanswered; the whole situation is a clouded mystery to everyone in Zion, the last remaining human city. The Nebuchadnezzar had been ordered to investigate why the ships were downed, and to recover any data that could lead to this conclusion.  
  
"I'm tracking some trace radiation about three hundred feet ahead, toward the east side of the tunnel," announced Tank, the ship's operator. Tank has never been the same since the incident that killed his brother Dozer and two crew members, Apok and Switch. A traitor, Cypher, killed them in his rage out of his anger. He wanted to go back into the Matrix, to become a helpless slave encased in a tube of goo, where he would be plugged into the computer-generated dream world, the alternate reality where all humans that were used for their bodily energy were. That reality was the Matrix.  
  
"Good. Set her down over there," Morpheus, the Nebuchadnezzar's captain responded affirmatively, pointing to a preferable location of landing. As the heavy metal landing gear clanks and moves into a locking position, Trinity walks into the cockpit.  
  
"What were our orders from Locke?" she asks quizzically. "I know we're out here to find a ship... and seeing we found it, what do we do now?"  
  
"First we are to --" Morpheus cuts short, "-- where is Neo?"  
  
"He was just getting ready. He.. he's having dreams," Trinity promptly replied.  
  
"Of what?" Morpheus questioned. "Are they signs, or messages from the Oracle?"  
  
"He won't tell me..." Trinity trailed off, "... but let him be for now. He will tell us when he feels he needs to." Just as her sentence was finished, Neo walked into the cockpit.  
  
"What are we up against?" he asked. "Another hit and run?"  
  
"That's what it would seem," Morpheus answered, "but we can never be certain. It may be an ambush."  
  
"What do we do?" Trinity then asked.  
  
"Same things we always do," Tank piped in, "go on in and get the hell out, as fast as humanly possible." Neo smirked at that statement. He thought back when he was jacking into the Matrix for a simple visit to the Oracle, and how it nearly was suicide. If there was one thing Neo learned, it was to expect the unexpected. Although the process nearly killed him, he learned it the hard way. Morpheus began to speak.  
  
"All right. We have a downed ship in quadrant three. The only opening to get there is through this route, between the pillars," he pointed out the cleared trench on the map, "and then proceed directly to the hull. There is too much rubble to enter through the main hatch, so we will be forced to cut in through the front. The ship is beyond repair; otherwise we would have greater difficulty accessing it with such ease." He paused to take a breath. "Once inside, we will search the ship's main logs, to determine the cause of the crash, and find any fatalities and bring them back to Zion. Anything to add, Tank?" He glanced over to his operator.  
  
"Yeah. Be careful, I've seen too many good people get busted up in these scenes." He stared at Neo, "Watch your back. Have your defense always at the ready, and remember: our priority is not to be killed here."  
  
"Well that was encouraging," remarked Neo. Trinity replied,  
  
"These situations aren't a piece of cake, Neo. And they won't be for you. You're only the One in the Matrix." At that, Morpheus began to open the Neb's main hatch.  
  
"Here we go." he said. 


End file.
